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A sudden spike in heart attack-related deaths in Karnataka’s Hassan district has prompted Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to order a high-level investigation. The move comes after four people died of cardiac arrest within a span of 24 hours, and a total of 21 such deaths have been reported in the district over the past 40 days.
Alarmed by the unusual pattern, the Chief Minister on Tuesday announced the formation of an expert panel, led by Dr C N Manjunath. The team has been directed to thoroughly investigate the cause of these sudden deaths and submit its findings within 10 days.
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Siddaramaiah raised serious concerns about the increasing number of young people succumbing to cardiac arrests and questioned whether side effects from the COVID-19 vaccine could be playing a role. “Why are young and otherwise healthy individuals dying so suddenly?” he asked in a post on X, adding that the government had already initiated a broader study into such deaths in February this year.
Citing international studies that suggest a potential link between COVID-19 vaccines and rising cardiac arrest incidents, Siddaramaiah said the government could not rule out this possibility. He suggested that the Union government’s “rushed approval and mass rollout” of the vaccines might have contributed to unintended health consequences.
“We have taken the issue seriously and a comprehensive evaluation is underway, including detailed examinations of patients with heart-related ailments,” he said. “There are global reports indicating a possible correlation between the vaccines and cardiac incidents.”
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The Chief Minister also lashed out at the BJP for politicising the issue. “It is deeply unfortunate that BJP leaders are trying to extract political mileage from the deaths of innocent youth and children,” he said. “Their families deserve answers and compassion, not political games.”
Siddaramaiah reiterated that the expert panel, headed by the Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research, is expected to submit its report within ten days. The committee will explore medical, environmental, and any vaccine-related factors that might be contributing to the spike in cardiac deaths in Hassan.
